Saturday, December 15, 2007

Saturday Roundup/Sabres 5, Caps 3Gamenight: Caps @ Bolts

This morning's post is more or less an open thread. Think Olie Kolzig cost the Caps a point (or two) on Friday night? Want to talk about how good Nicklas Backstrom is? Or which defenseman had the worst game? Or what Michael Nylander's return to the lineup means? Fire away on these or anything else in the comments.

15 comments:

melvisdog
said...

I think I understand now why a goaltender cannot be captain. What happens if he has a real stinker of a game and loses focus for a period or the next game because he doesn't feel confident or is frustrated with his own play. He'd likely sit and stew and be no good to his team.

I can this happening with Olie more and more. I imagine this scenario would play more often with other goaltenders that are greater headcases than Olie, but nevertheless, you can see him get frustrated and lose his cool.

I can kind of excuse that first screwup by Kolzig. That was just a bad mistake that probably won't happen again. But the wraparound goal is simply not acceptable, especially since it's happened in two consecutive games. That's just a simple technique issue that top flight goalies don't allow. That was a backbreaker.

Was at the game last night, and was so disappointed in Olie's play. His mistakes (especially letting in late goals and/or letting in goals early in periods) continue to break my heart. It especially stinks since his two late goals last night cost us leads and energized a relatively quiet Buffalo fan base.

On a positive side, is it just me or are Backstrom and Ovechkin really starting to get something going?? Every time either one of them were out on the ice it was beautiful to watch.

Also, still not sold on Semin's play but I noticed something interesting at pregame warmup. He was actually acting happy. Saw him smiling and talking with a lot of the players (not just Ovie). Not joking in an "I don't care" attitude, but in a I like where I am attitude. Not that he has not smiled before other games, but this just felt different to me. I hope it is the start of something...

Did Olie the Goalie cost them the game?: Methinks, no, there were too many turnovers and too many times that the defense let the Sabre's handle the puck for extended periods to put all this on Olie.

Which D-Man had the worst game?: Methinks it's not worth talking about they all need to watch the films and not make those same mistakes tonight or many more times this season - please clear the front of the net and stick to guys like Afingov like white on rice.

Backstrom is indeed a talent and will continue to develop. The thing we all need to be careful about is pushing to hard to fast, seriously at just turned 20 he is still growing and the NHL is a physical league.

At 6-4-1 since the coaching change this is a different team. yes last nights game stunk; the real telling point will be tonight more of the same as last night (the magic gone again) or a team possessed on a mission that ends the third period 7-4-1 since the coaching change? If it's 7-4-1 at the third period buzzer, they are on track to compete for the 8th playoff spot. If it's 6-5-1 the rebuilding is resumed....

I don't want to ride Olie too much, but I agree the wrap-around goal shouldn't have happened. Other than that, he did come up big several times, especially when the Caps were content to pretend they were in a 5-on-5 power play. Maybe they were dazzled by the crisp passing.

Is there a trade in the works, say, Nyles to somewhere else? The guy stops skating sometimes, especially if it's a delayed penalty or he thinks he got checked too hard. BB's got to work on that guy. Sometimes I think he's being an individual and not a team player.

I think last night was a bit of fatigue for some guys as well as fitting Nyles back into the lineup. Ovie and Backstrom looked good together again. Semin's working his way back.

b.orr4, that fist goal was entirely inexcusable. I learned within a month of playing goalie as a nine year old that you dont try to handle the puck like that

The way the Capitals played I think solid goaltending would have given them two points, okay goaltending one and bad goaltending none. Of the four goals scored on Kolzig he should have stopped two and probably a third.

If you are the same guy who blames the ice for things, you can't blame Kolzig for that first goal. The puck was clearly rolling around and he should have stopped/settled it, then fired it. The wraparound was definitely his fault, but you can't really blame him for the other ones, as he's not a miracle worker. Regardless, are you *seriously* that upset with 6-4-1 after the way this season started? No one goes 100%.

The only thing I'm upset about from a fans standpoint watching on TV was that the cameras did a great job of showcasing just how many Sabres fans there were. I didn't think that many Sabres fans *existed*, let alone would come down to DC for a game. And hearing Let's Go Buffalo through most of the third period really sucked.

I don't think you can call it all Olie's fault. Yeah, the first goal was bad. There were a couple other softies. But Laich's goal was a softy/mishandle as well so those kind of cancel out. that was a good game against a tough team and while I would have liked a win, a month ago that would have been a 5-1 or 5-2 loss.

It's rare a goal is 100% anyone's fault, but the first one was all Kolzig.

Physical mistakes like flubbed passes or mishandled pucks happen to everyone sooner or later, and more often on bad ice. But Kolzig's mistake was a mental one - he decided to slap at the puck with the back hand rather than play it like any other skater, like he should have (like so).

dmg - I think I was misunderstood. It was clearly Olie's fault, but there's a ton of people who like to blame the VC ice for EVERYTHING EVER. It was more saying that if they were gonna blame Olie, they should blame the ice first kinda thing? I dunno. Tonight's game was good.